That’s a beautiful airplane. It was a courageous act to put the green mottling on that bare metal skin. Very inspiring build. I have a Hasegawa 1/48 kit of this airplane. It has the clover on the side. Your posting will be a great resource!

Louis, you are a brave man. I avoid anything with a mottled paint scheme, although as I get older and my hands start to shake, maybe painting a mottle would be easier. Great job.

Hello Erik, @airbum
Thanks for asking about the durability of the foil finish. So far this Ki-61 still looks just as good as the day I placed it inside the display case. It is holding up very well.

I have used Bare Metal Foil on a lot of my builds. To date, I have only had one bad experience, and it may have been related to excessive heat involving sunlight and a mirror. It might also have been caused by oils that could have been accidentally left on the surface of the model. I have an AMT 1/48 scale A-20, and the foil started bubbling up in various locations on the model. I ended up removing most of the foil and had to start over from scratch. The sticky residue left behind when the foil was removed is a real bear to get off... Needless to say, that one is still sitting on the shelf of doom... maybe someday I will bring it back.

I'll be looking forward to seeing your future "Empire" model.

Thanks for stopping by...